Summer In The Marsh

The summer in Ontario has been very wet so far so when a rare beautiful day finally arrived, I decided to grab my camera and head out to the Marsh Boardwalk at Presqu’ile Provincial Park near Brighton, Ontario.

Not surprisingly the bulrushes, cattails and tall grass were flourishing thanks to the recent weather conditions.

With a lovely blue sky and some nice clouds in the distance I was able to capture this image of a typical marsh scene. It was so nice I almost didn’t mind having to deal with the deer flies taking bites out of my legs…almost!

Snowbirds In Formation

On July 4th and 5th of this year an air show celebrating the 100th Anniversary of Powered Flight took place at 8 Wing / CFB Trenton in Ontario. It also marked the 85th Anniversary of the Royal Canadian Air Force.

Among the sights in the sky enjoyed by the thousands of people in attendance over the two day event were the CF-18 Hornet, Lancaster Bomber, Search & Rescue Demonstrations, C-17 Globemaster, SkyHawks Parachute Team and the always popular Canadian Forces Snowbirds Aerobatic Demonstration Team.

The very first time I witnessed the team was also in Trenton in 1972 but sadly two of the planes collided in mid-air resulting in the crash of one plane and the death of one of the pilots. This was the first time the Snowbirds suffered a loss like this but sadly it wasn’t the last.

In this photo the eight Snowbird Tutor Jets complete a loop in tight formation. I have seen this team perform since I was a boy and they always provide a thrill.

Reaching For The Sky

I can’t speak for other photographers but for me there’s nothing worse than a long layoff between photo shoots. After nearly a month I finally had some time off and managed to find some time to get out into nature once again and take some photos.

I ventured out to one of my favourite areas and came away with about five photos I was happy with out of about 80 frames. Some of the other frames were OK but I guess I’m just becoming too picky and decided to weed out the so-so shots.

This was probably my favourite photo from the day. I found a small patch of yellow wild flowers (someone smarter than me can tell you what they are) and tried many different things to be creative. I finally decided to get low and shoot up at them looking toward the sky and I was pleased with this result. I loved how the colours were strong and think it works nicely.

Please feel free to leave a comment and let me know what you think.

Storm Clouds Building

This past summer was a lot wetter than normal and along with the wet conditions came plenty of opportunities to photograph thunderstorms and the clouds associated with them.

In this particular case I was heading to my parent’s campsite when I noticed this cloud building in the distance. I pulled my car to the side of the road, grabbed my trusty Nikon from the back seat and headed down by the marsh.

You may be wondering if I’ve done something to the photo. The answer is yes as I used Photoshop CS3 Extended along with the Lucis Art 3 plug-in to create an even more interesting look and to bring out greater detail in the clouds. Some people may not like the effect but I was quite happy with it for a first attempt using this process.

Marsh Storm

This photo is the same as an earlier photo I posted. The only difference is I did some more creative post-processing on the photo.

I think this gives the photo a more vibrant and eye-appealing look…or at least I like it better.